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April 3, 2012

Build a better brain?

Artificial brains are on the rise, powered by huge investment, exponential growth in computer power, and new insights in everything from statistics to biochemistry.

In Seattle, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen pledged US$300-million last week for a series of “brain observatories” that will model the visual parts of mice brains, and allow researchers to “capture fundamental aspects of higher brain function: from perception to conscious awareness, decision-making and action.”

In Toronto, a team at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute is about to release a working model of its Virtual Brain, which aims to recreate the structure and function of grey matter, including its “plasticity,” or the capacity to reorganize after damage.